Wichita eagle., 1887-10-19

purpose-s purpose to keep myself aliva
at least-tin daylight came
began walking; it did not matter In
what direction. II only my strength
held ont till morning-strength to keep
of that horrible drowsiness. know ]
stumbled heavily along. was thinking
about Molly and her baby; it all seemed
like a duh dream
And then bells began to ring; deep and
soft and far OF. stopped in my tracks
to listen. It was the sound Of bells, GER
tain, full and sweet; and / turned and
went blindly on, following the sound as a
hound might follow scent
All at once / saw light. It wasn't 3
star; there were no stars And nobody
lived on the big range, unless some
camper was travelling about, and travellers
don't travel in the teeth Of a norther.
And this light swung and waved, went
out entirely for second or two and then
burned up again. And near or far /
could not tell, only it was light and it
moved, and i followed it. And / could
hear the bells all the time.
Then, all at once, another one Of Molly's
Bible verses flashed into my head; some
thing about ''star in the east that went
before them till it came and stood over
the place where the young child lay"
Well, ] wasn't wise man, or /
shouldn't have got in such fix. don't
think am an irreverent kind of fellow,
either; q man could live with Molly many
years and be that. Only i was looking
for a young child too, and babies-little
Ones-always did seem to me near enough
to heaven to make that story about the
star reasonable enough. Anyway, there it
was, meant for me or not, and l fol-
lowed it
More than once fell, but always got
up and went on. l WIS talking 10 myself
part of the time, hearing my own voice
and thinking it was some one else's. i
lost my sense of time again, bnt kept on
doggedly; and then, suddenly, the light
flashed brighter, whirled about in wild
sort of a way, and went out entirely.
/ gave shout and ran forward.
thought / should die il / lost it. And
there was standing on wide trail, with
sort of square dark shape standing up
In the dimness before Inc, with light and
voices coming out of the cbinks, and
somehow, there was the door, and my
hand on the latch, and in another second
-ohl it was Molly-Nolly with a lamp
in her hand, bending over feeding box
made into a cradle, with great armful
of hay and white sheepskin for cover,
and Madison's wife kneeling on one side
and Clayton's wife ON the other, and be-
yond, with the lights flashing in their
great, wandering, shining eyes, pair Of
astonished horses. And then there came
u piping cry from the feeding trough, and
! knew had found the baby.
Burned ont? Yes, sir. That was the
last thing; but they had had warning be-
fore the fire came down on them. Jim
Clayton had taken the women and struck
across for the big road and they took the
first shelter they came To, a stable that
had been built in the days when all the
California supplies went overland by mule
train. When the wind fell he took the
lantern and tried To find cabin that used
to stand somewhere near, and / had been
him for half an hour.
Oh yes, I'm well fixed now; three thous
and head of cattle out on the Gunnison.
And Molly spends her summers back
home, and she and the babies bring back
enough Group and catarrh and bronchitis
sore throat to last them half the next
York Independent.